5 December 2012
MAYOR: Poly teacher and Riverside’s soon-to-be inaugurated mayor Rusty Bailey discusses his progress as a man of public service and his vision for the future of Riverside.
By Kira Roybal, Staff writer
I am very excited that one of our own teachers was elected to a high office. It is great that Poly is partly connected to your success.
It’s connected in a greater way than you might think. My grandpa came to Riverside from Missouri as a young boy in 1914, almost a hundred years ago. He graduated from Poly in 1926 and my dad in 1956. I graduated in 1990 and my daughter can become a fourth generation Poly graduate in 2020.
My interest in a leadership career goes back as far as my days at Gage Middle School when I became eighth grade class president. Later, I was ASB president, ASB vice president and sophomore class president. I was involved in leadership positions and public service. Ever since my high school years at Poly, I was thinking of running for an elected office. It was a progression.
So teaching, for you, has become an extension of public service?
When I was working for County Supervisor John Tavaglione’s office in 1997, I met Mr. [Thomas] Podgorski at Rubidoux High School. Now I would consider him a close friend. He encouraged me – inspired me – to get into teaching.
With my position on the city council, I’ve created an education round-table of all of the superintendents, college chancellors, presidents – and then myself – to look at the education policy in Riverside. We decide on how we can connect our students to our colleges and universities so that students can take classes freely amongst these. We’re a college town, but we don’t see the students. Why aren’t they connecting to Downtown? Why aren’t they connecting to areas in Riverside? Part of the problem is transportation. Transportation (the streetcar), infrastructure and investment spur other investments and economic development. Another program that I have in mind is to create an entrepreneurial academy run by various college business school deans; we could grow our own jobs in Riverside from high school students.
It is well known that Riverside was named by the Intelligent Community Forum (IFC) the most intelligent community of 2012. In public eyes, such an achievement links back to former Mayor Ron Loveridge. How do you plan to continue his legacy?
We owe a great debt of gratitude to Mayor Loveridge for his 33 years of service to our city. I’ve been on the city council for five years, also taking part in the Riverside Renaissance. Mayor Loveridge encouraged me to run for the office and then he ended up endorsing me. My intent is to continue enriching education and improving the quality of life for Riversiders.
Your friend and Poly teacher, Mr. Podgorski, said that you are one of the rare people who not only knows what to do, but also has a vision on how to do it. What is this vision?
I always say that as an elected official you have three hats that you wear, three major roles or duties you have to carry out. First and foremost, you represent your people. Then you are a problem-solver. And lastly, you are a decision maker. You need to get people who care about the issues around the table, and then you try to figure out what the problems are and how we can come together to make compromises. However, you have to make a decision at some point; otherwise stability and businesses can be hurt. Again, you are a representative first; people look up to leaders to figure out policies that they can plan on and count on.
I think it’s exciting to know that as a mayor I will be able to make decisions that are going to last, perhaps, for generations. The water quality control plant, the Riverside transmission reliability project – these are huge 100-million or 200-million-dollar projects that are going to serve generations of Riversiders. I am excited to be part of it to make an impact on the city that I was born in.
Do you believe in luck? Do you have any talismans or good-luck charms?
I’m a Christian. My faith in God, I would say, definitely is what got me through the hard times, knowing that He was gonna pull me through and carry me through if needed. I had a lot of good people praying for me.
I would definitely say my wife was a key person. Without her I would have not been able to get through the several rigorous campaigns.
What role do you believe young people play in politics today?
I like the fact that young people are more independent, nonpartisan. I ran as an independent; it’s a nonpartisan office. I didn’t seek endorsement from either party [Republican or Democrat] because I believe that an important facet of local governance is to make sure that we are not beholden to the special interest. I think party politics, as you have seen on the state and federal level, has really hurt our policy making; it’s not about compromise anymore, it’s about their party platform. However, I’m excited for the future. We’re going to focus more on issues than on party positioning.
Young voters are looking at candidates and trying to figure out who they are, as well as their vision and their platform, versus just voting [along] party lines. When my students turn 18, I register them to vote – a doughnut and a registration form are my birthday gifts to them. I have noticed that most of them are registering as “declined to state” voters.
You ran as Rusty Bailey, but your official name is William Russell Bailey III. Which name will suit our new mayor better?
My grandpa was William Russell Bailey, nicknamed Russ Bailey. My father was Bill Bailey. Legend has it that my sister threw out the name Rusty and it stuck; it’s a nickname for Russell. People voted for Rusty Bailey and so here I am, ready to serve.
Thank you Mr. Bailey. Good Luck.